Education

After Thursday, the Shelby County Board of Education will have a much better understanding of the academic progress of the county’s students.

The board will hear a staff report on the on the fall Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) test and review of the district’s results in the 2012-13 Unbridled Learning state test and see how those results aligned with the 2012-13 Board Goals.

The Unbridled Learning results were made public on Sept. 27, and Shelby County Public Schools showed positive growth, earning a Proficient score as a district.

Shelby County can point with pride to examples of its generous helping hands – with every month seeming to bring new opportunities to raise funds, raise awareness for a cause, or help a local resident in need – and now organizers of Project Graduation are hoping to tap into that willingness to help.

Superintendent James Neihof could not discuss test scores during the Shelby County Board of Education meeting on Thursday, so he brought up another hot-button issue: school redistricting.

Based on next year’s opening of Southside Elementary, Neihof has had the district administration working on a plan to accommodate the expanded size of the new school. Its focus was to create feeder schools, marking three elementary schools to feed each middle school and in turn each high school.

The Kentucky Association of Counties put on a presentation for 3rd and 4th graders at Heritage Elementary Wednesday that included a Kentucky artist and Shelby County officials that spoke to the children about what they do and their roles in government.

The Shelby County Board of Education will put together the final budget for the 2013-14 school year during Thursday’s regular board meeting at 7 p.m. at the district’s offices, 1155 Main St. in Shelbyville.

After voting in August to maintain the personal property and real estate tax rate at 71.5 cents per $100 of assessed value, the board will look to approve the final numbers in its working budget.

By maintaining the same rate as last year, district officials estimate that general fund will be reduced by nearly $741,000.

In a darkened auditorium Wednesday at Collins High School, former Gov. Martha Layne Collins sat down with Shelby County Public Schools Public Relations Coordinator Ryan Allan for a question-and-answer session to help enlighten the school’s senior class.

The assembly – which was handled in a style akin to the classic Inside the Actors Studio – featured Collins informally answering questions from Allan as the students provided a backdrop of laughs and clapping.

Kerry Fannin, director of secondary schools, presented a past, present and future of College and Career Readiness to the Shelby County Board of Education during Thursday’s meeting at Painted Stone Elementary.

The presentation was designed as a prep for the board on what the Strategic Leadership Committee will be tackling and for how the district can prepare to reach its BIG Goal of having all students graduate College and Career Ready by 2016.

The Shelby County Board of Education will take a look at its past, present and future Career Readiness.

Kerry Fannin, who has returned to the district as director of secondary schools, will have a report on the topic for the board at its meeting Thursday at Painted Stone Elementary School, 150 Warriors Way in Shelbyville.